When I was a little girl my mom was not one for baking, but my friend Elizabeth's mom made bar cookies just about every time I was over their house. In my tween years I taught myself to bake from scratch and was drawn to the iconic round chewy cookie. I loved the neat little rows on a parchment lined sheet. Only recently since I became a mom and cooking has been on the back burner until I got the hang of things, I have rediscovered the bar cookie. Making the dough is the easy part, often just in one bowl with a spoon. Then baking all together while I do something else is so much easier than batches and batches of trays and shaping each cookie.

Does anyone have a favorite bar cookie they like to make? Or a similar idea of cooking for non sweet stuff? Let's share some ideas!

Process and pulse in the food processor until it is mixed and will press together.
You can do this by hand if you don't have a food processor. Just cut the butter into the ingredients.
Press half of the oat mixture into the buttered pan.

Spread the jam over the pressed oat mixture.

Sprinkle the other half of the mixture over the top and pat it down.

Bake until light brown, 30-40 minutes. I use the longer time on this one, otherwise I find that they fall apart.